Good morning, Church. How's everybody this morning? Good, good. Good to see you guys. If you have your Bibles, go ahead and open up to Second Corinthians. We're going to be in chapter nine. Second Corinthians, chapter nine. Before we get there, I want to just say to all the basketball fans in the world, happy Selection Sunday. Anybody with me on that? Okay, it's March Madness. It's officially beginning today. Anybody excited about that? Yay or nay? A couple people. Okay. You might be looking at me like, dude, what do you care? All you talk about is wrestling. And you're partially right, because I would much prefer this upcoming weekend to watch the wrestling championships. But part of my upbringing is actually developing a deep love for the sport of basketball. And you're like, really, like, you help me connect these two worlds. Well, I'll just tell you that growing up when I did, I had a front row seat to two of arguably the greatest dynasties in basketball history, Though they aren't college basketball related. They are the dynasties of the Chicago Bulls, anybody? And the Los Angeles Lakers. Right. So kind of that 90s and 2000s era, you have 11 championships shared between the Bulls and the Lakers. And maybe you know this, maybe you don't. They're all under the same coach. His name is Phil Jackson. Yes. So Phil Jackson is known for being this very successful coach who's led these two now famous dynasties. And a huge part of his coaching success is due to his motto, surrender the me for the we. Surrender the me for the we. He developed what was known as the triangle offense. And I'll try not to bore you too much, but before Phil Jackson, Michael Jordan. You guys know that name? Heard of it before? Okay, Michael Jordan had played five seasons in the NBA. He was already the best player in the NBA, was declared the scoring champion, received an MVP and had won zero titles, zero NBA championships. And then with the genesis of the Phil Jackson era, you see the floodgates open, the triangle offense take place, and the Bulls go on to win six championships. And what's incredible, especially if you know anything about professional athletes, is that Phil Jackson didn't just frame this motto of surrender the me for the we. He got his athletes to buy into it. That you could take these grown men, professional athletes, and help them to trade in the chase of stardom and personal accolades for the sake of team achievement. But the reality is, that's how dynasties are made. Dynasties are made when it's about serving a cause beyond personal achievement. And this is true not just in athletics. You See it in organizational leadership. Really, any cause that is greater than self is what's needed to lay the framework or the foundation for lasting change. That's because the what's in it for me mindset is often connected to this idea of empty victory. Empty victory. So even if you are very successful personally, but your end line stops with you, what's in it for me? You may accomplish what you're set out for, but you'll be left asking the question, is this really all there is? There has to be something more. And that's because we're created for more than just us, aren't we? We're created deep within for a cause greater than self. And. And this applies to every area of our life. Yes. Including our giving. Now we are in week six of a what I would call a miniseries on giving, 2nd Corinthians 8 and 9. Would you guys agree with me that it's been a challenging six weeks? Yeah. Would anybody say that it's been a formative six weeks? I know it has been for us, it's been formative. In our connection group, many like fruitful conversations, real, I would say change that's happening by the spirit of God. But one thing that I'm left asking as we look to kind of close out these two chapters is how can our generosity be lasting or fulfilling? Right. How can our generosity not just be reduced down to this six weeks of 20, 25 where we talked about it from stage week after week after? Because if you're anything like me, you're prone to forget, you're prone to wander, Right. Even if it sparks like conversations or even real change of generosity, we're all prone. If it stops with the like, what's in it for me? The next sermon series that rolls out our generosity will get left behind us. And actually, Paul, as he writes to the believers in Corinth, he's calling them to a very specific charge to give primarily to the church in Jerusalem. But what we'll see from today's text is his desire is for generosity to not be limited to the Jerusalem offering, but actually to be long lasting in the life of the Corinthian believers. Or you could say for the Corinthian church to have a legacy or a long lasting reality of generosity. But in order for him to do that, he has to cast a greater purpose for giving. He has to say, hey, I want to just peel back the curtain and help you see what your giving is ultimately all about. There is a greater cause here than simply caring for believers in Jerusalem. And several times throughout these two chapters, he's even said, it's for your benefit that you give, right? It's like, hey, it's for your integrity, it's for your good. You will be enriched. But he's not going to stop there. He doesn't want it to stop with us, and he doesn't even want it to stop with the believers in Jerusalem meeting their practical needs. He wants us to see a greater cause. And I want us to see this together this morning. So if you would start with me. We're going to read 2 Corinthians, chapter 9, beginning in verse 12. Just going to read the first verse for us this morning. Here's what the word of God says for the ministry of this service. The giving of the Corinthian church is not only supplying the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing in many thanksgiving to God. Remember here, right? Paul writing to the church in Corinth on a very specific practical need, which is, hey, believers in Jerusalem are struggling because famine has struck the land. We need the churches, Jew and Gentile, to rally around these believers in Jerusalem so that they can have their practical needs met, that they could have food in their bellies. But what's interesting is as he writes these words, he says, this is not only about supplying the needs of the saints, this is not only about practical needs. And that can be a tough pill to swallow because if you're anything like me, it's a lot easier to give when there's like a physical or practical need in front of you, isn't it? Right. I mean, I even think about as we moved into this space, it's one thing to say, hey, we need money to help make this church feel like home. And it's another thing to make an Amazon wish list that's like, here's the $3,000 of things we need in kids classrooms. And then within like a week, everything's purchased because it's like, see that little rock wall? I bought that, right? There's a little bit of something in us that likes this meeting a practical need. And when you zoom out, right, this is not just an in the church thing, this is much outside the church. Many nonprofits doing great work, whether it's food for the hungry, whether it's winter coats for the homeless, school supplies for the under resourced, disaster relief for victims of hurricanes, Right? And there's nothing necessarily wrong with giving to meet practical needs. In fact, I would argue that Christians should set the pace in giving and meeting practical needs. It can be and should be an honest expression of our faith. In the book of James, James writes to believers, kind of challenging false religion. And he says this James 1:27, religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father, is to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world. Now, James here specifically talks about orphans and widows to highlight the most helpless and vulnerable, vulnerable members of society. And he says, hey, this is what pure religion looks like. You're willing to care for those who are weak and needy and vulnerable. And so to say, hey, is it wrong for us to give to meet practical needs? No, we should do that. But the problem is when we create this false narrative in our heads that we cannot give or should not give unless it meets a practical need, right? It's very easy to say, well, why would I give to the local church if it's paying utility bills or paying staff for discipleship or, you know, and there's not something super tangible in front of you when you're like, well, I could give to fill in the blank, meet a practical need. And what's scary is that underneath this desire to give to meet practical needs, if we're honest, is a strange opportunity to feed self righteousness. Here's what I mean. When you understand the pervasiveness of sin, you know that you can even make giving about you. We can make giving about us. And when there's practical needs in front of us, our giving can become a way not only to help other people, but for us to feel better about ourselves. Perhaps that's why sometimes we're more drawn to meeting the physical practical needs, because there's some sort of transaction attached to it, whether that be some form of boost in self image, that we might not explicitly say, look how good of a person I am, or that people not say, wow, look how great of a person you are. But that we might feel better about ourselves. Or there's this simple transaction that seems to matter so much. And it's this two word phrase, thank you. We want to give in such a way that someone across the table from us can look us in the eyes and say thank you. That we can feel a sense of appreciation. That's like, oh, that was worth it to me because now I feel valued. And one of the first times I learned this, I would say learned kind of head to heart learning was several years ago. Ellie and I had tremendous connection group leaders when we were in Cedar Rapids and they said, hey, one thing that we've really tried to do over the years to grow in our generosity is both thinking structured generosity and spontaneous generosity. And when it comes to spontaneous generosity, one thing that we have tried to do is when we go out to eat, if we make a connection with the waiter or waitress, to leave like a hefty tip, right? But to do so in such a way that we leave the tip and we walk out before we can see their reaction to it. And I was like, interesting. And I kind of tried to press in, like, why would you do that? And it's like, well, we want it to be with the right heart posture. And I still kind of was like, what do you mean? And then Ellie and I share this not as a boast, but honestly as a confession. Ellie and I tried it one time and it was so hard. It was so hard to leave a tip, whether it be to a teenager, a single mom, right? Someone who's working multiple jobs to make ends meet. You leave what you perceive to be a generous tip, and yet you walk out of the building and the one thing you want to do is not praise God, but you want to peek through the window and see what their reaction is. Because there's something within us that's like, man, I just want to see that I made a difference because my giving is about me. Man, that's ugly and it's hard. But as you look at this text, it's like, man, we shouldn't necessarily have problem with Thanksgiving being given. The problem is we want the Thanksgiving to go to us. When in verse 12, it says the Thanksgiving is being given to whom? It's not a trick question, to God. Now think about this. As the Corinthian church, you're probably giving boatloads of money to the believers in Jerusalem. And it's like, here's what's going to happen. Their needs will be met and they're going to give a ton of thanks. It just won't be to you. Who's it going to be to? It's going to be to God. And you may never hear a thank you, but they're giving thanks to God. Why is this? Keep reading with me. Verse 13. By their approval of this service, by the giving that you have put forward, they will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your confession of the Gospel of Christ and the generosity of your contribution for them in and for all others. That's actually where you see that this isn't meant to stop with the believers in Jerusalem. This generosity that's now overflowing out of the Believers in Corinth, while they long for you and pray for you because of the surpassing grace of God upon you. Here you see the ultimate result, right? The overarching theme, the greatest cause of the Corinthians, generosity, which is glory to God, gratitude among his people, right? Like to peel back the layers and say, what if you never get a thank you? But people are worshiping God. People are filled with great gratitude. Is that enough for you? The answer is it should be, right? We come across this phrase in verse 13, glorify God. And I think sometimes it's confusing because perhaps we use it all the time. Perhaps it's in our mission statement, glorify God. Maybe we put it on sweatshirts for God's glory. And it's like, do we know what that means, to glorify God? I'll simplify it for you. It means to honor him with praise and worship. And when you even think about the word worship, it's like ascribing worth. Ascribing worth. So to glorify God means that we have to, at the root level, understand that God is glorious. Glorious, the root word for glorious, implies infinite weight or worth. It looks at God and says, you are holy, you are majestic, you are full of splendor. The only thing I can do, my only appropriate response is to ascribe worth to you, which we would see. A common response among God's people for generations is worship. Or in other words, Praise. Right? Psalm 111 says it this way. The psalmist writes, praise the Lord. I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart in the company of the upright in the congregation. Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in them. Full of splendor and majesty is his work, and his righteousness endures forever. The psalmist is simply taking in who God is and what he's done. He says, God, you are great. Your work is full of splendor and majesty. Your righteousness endures forever. What's his response? Praise. He's erupting in praise. And that is is what Paul is saying, the Corinthians, giving is doing amongst the believers in Jerusalem, Right? What they're doing is so much more than filling bellies with food. They're giving is providing a context in which souls are satisfied in God. Worship is overflowing amongst God's people. Now, what I find interesting here as you look at these verses, is why the Jerusalem believers are praising God. Because if you just take a step back, place yourself in the Jerusalem believer's shoes, you're in the midst of a famine. Churches have been pouring out money, right? Like giving really generously, and then the money comes to you and you can now eat. What would you be praising God for? I'd be praising God for food. I don't know about you. Right. It'd be really easy to be like, thank you, God, for this food. And you'd probably say it a little bit different than you do in America in 2025. Right. But that's not what the Jerusalem believers are even praising God for. They're not even praising God for the food. In the midst of a famine, what are they praising God for? There's two, because of statements in verses 13 and 14 that are worth noting here. Verse 13, it says they'll glorify God because of your submission. That comes from your confession of the Gospel of Christ. Verse 14 says, they long for you and pray for you because of the surpassing grace of God upon you. This is fascinating. I hope you're like half as intrigued as I was that just like the Corinthians, giving is about more than meeting physical needs. Jerusalem's thanksgiving is about more than physical needs being met. The response or the overflow of their heart in praise and in prayer to God is to say, thank you, God, that you are mighty to save people like the Corinthians. Thank you, God, that the gospel of the grace of Christ has taken root in their lives. That that would simply bear fruit and generosity. You are great and greatly to be praised. Why? Not just because you put food in my belly, but because you're satisfying the souls and for the Jerusalem believers, yes, of even pagan people like the Corinthians, these are Gentiles. And that you would use Gentile pagan people to come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ to now, in a strange, upside down way, meet the needs of the people of Jerusalem. God, you are worthy to be praised because you are mighty to save. It's rooted in the very gospel. You almost just want to be like, man. Paul, what are you doing? Right? He's just unraveling. All right. This is all about worship. Glorify God, praise. But let me remind you, all of that had to start somewhere. And it starts on this bedrock, this foundation called grace. Yes, the ultimate result is glorifying God, but it has to start with the grace of God. We covered this all the way back at the beginning of Second Corinthians 8, verse 9, where he said to the believers in Corinth, for you know, you understand this, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor so that you by his poverty might become rich. He's telling the Corinthians like this is supposed to be the fuel for your generosity, right? You are not being generous to earn the favor of God. You are being generous because God's favor has been graciously poured, poured out on you in the person work of Jesus. In fact, that's how he ends this section 2 Corinthians 9. Much ink has been spilled on giving and he lands in this verse, verse 15, Paul writes, thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift. Paul himself, in simply writing about the gospel of grace, has moved to worship. It's almost like I'm just going to pause from talking about other people worshiping God and I'm just going to worship God in front of you. Praise God for his inexpressible gift. And what was awesome, this is just like a nugget. As you study the Scriptures more, you just sometimes come across these nuggets that it's like, I would have never known that if I just read past this. The ancient word for inexpressible was not found in any ancient writing before this text, which as one commentator said, apparently Paul made up the word to describe the indescribable. Isn't that amazing? Paul's like, I just want to try and come up with a way that I can say thank you to God for this great gift of grace. And I can't find a word for it, so I'm just going to make one inexpressible. It's like, what? But when you understand church, when you understand the Gospel of Christ, this is an appropriate response. The Gospel is not just good news that saved you back then. It's not something to move on from. It's not just the start of the Christian life. We've talked about that before, right? The late Tim Keller, pastor, theologian, said the Gospel is not just the ABC of Christianity, it's the A2Z of Christianity, which means the entirety of our faith. From lost sinner, to saved, co heir with Christ, to struggling Christian in the process of sanctification, to one day being glorified with God in heaven. All of that, you know what, that's covered by the Gospel of Jesus Christ and is wrapped up in 2 Corinthians 8, 9. That he who was rich became poor. That Jesus Christ stepped down from the comfort of heaven and he became poor. Right? He became subject to the suffering of this world, that he became a servant. Philippians 2 would say that he was a servant in perfect obedience, obedient to the point of even death on a cross. And you might think, oh, surely Jesus would do that for a righteous person. Romans 5 talks about that. Surely someone would do that for a righteous person. But what's true of when Jesus did that for us, Church? He did that while we were weak, while we were still sinners. The Bible says, while we were enemies of the cross of Christ. That is exactly where Jesus enters the scene. While we wanted nothing to do with him, while we were far off and running farther, we were stiff arming God, wanting nothing to do with him, dead in our trespasses and sins. But Ephesians 2, verse 4 starts with this beautiful two word phrase, but God. But God, because he was rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, made us alive in Christ. Is this not an inexpressible gift? This is the gospel. And it's beautiful to just remember that there's nothing we could ever do to earn it. Because if we could earn it, it wouldn't be a gift, it would be a reward. That's not the gospel. The gospel is a gift. Again, Ephesians 2:8 9. For by grace, the word grace means unmerited favor. By grace you have been saved through faith. This is the gift of God. It's not a result of works so that no one may boast. So do not confuse me. Do not confuse Paul. Generosity is not our way to show God that we are worthy to be loved. Absolutely not. But generosity is the only appropriate response to people who have been met with the love, mercy and grace of Jesus Christ. That we would be a giving people as a result or overflow of the fact that we are first and foremost a receiving people. And not just of, oh, a kind of good gift. No, an inexpressible gift. Salvation, joy, peace, belonging, satisfaction in God forever. And that our generosity, though rooted in God's grace, ultimately results in God being glorified, God being worshiped. This is our greatest purpose in giving. You could say it this. The greatest purpose in our giving is to glorify God by displaying the Gospel. To glorify God by displaying the Gospel. And underneath that, we need to know two things. That this type of giving is first and foremost grace fueled. That we get to give, we get to be generous. Why? Because we have freely received in Christ that we are recipients of the greatest gift that has ever been given and ever will be given. And so we are therefore free to let go of our money. Because money makes a terrible God and we have a sufficient one in Jesus. Amen. It is rooted and fueled by grace. But also our giving is called to be God focused, which means we ultimately give. Hear me when I say ultimately. We ultimately give. For God to be worshiped and not ourselves to be recognized, that can be challenging, but that you would be able to give whenever, wherever, and even if you never feel a sense of self gratification, even if it never boosts your ego to say, wow, look how good of a person I am, even if the person across from you never says thank you, that you can simply give as a response to grace and trust that God is being worshiped in your generosity and yes, that one day you will hear well done good and faithful servant, that that can be enough for you. And what's beautiful is as we look at this type of giving, we understand that it can begin today and echo throughout eternity. It's not contingent upon the next practical need showing up. It's not contingent upon the next money series showing up in a church. It's not around the next building campaign or church endeavor. It's a constant that can start today. That our giving can bless the Lord, worship the Lord today, and that it can echo throughout eternity. What an incredible opportunity. And I will say, as much as it's like, man, this sets the framework for a legacy of a church of generosity. One day when we're in heaven, we're not going to be concerned about the legacy of Veritas Church. Right? We won't be reminded of an old hymn and I'm not going to sing it for you. We'll talk about that in a minute. This old hymn called When We all get to Heaven. How many of you guys have heard that one before? When We all get to Heaven. Okay, I said I wasn't going to sing. I'm not going to. Here is what the hymn does not say. When we all get to heaven, what a day of self congratulation that will be. When we all see Jesus, we'll pride ourselves for our charity. It's not what the text says, it's not what the hymn says. Right? How lame is that? What a self focused, unfulfilling view of giving. Rather, the hymn says this. When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be. When we all see Jesus we'll sing and shout the victory we're not going to be so concerned about. Oh yeah, those people over there, they made it up to heaven because of our giving. Like we won't be worried about it. We're all going to be around the throne of the Lamb who was slain singing worthy, worthy, holy, ascribing worth and worship back to the only one who deserves to be worshiped, Jesus Christ. And so we have to climb down the ladder and say, okay, what does this mean for our giving today, tomorrow, next week, and, Lord willing, for the rest of our lives, Even if we never stand up on stage and teach for six weeks about giving ever again, that we can give in a way that glorifies God. I want to give you just a few things to consider. The first is to remember the gospel, to meditate on the inexpressible gift that you have in Jesus. And many of you are familiar with this, but the Bible says that his mercies are new every morning. You know why they're new every morning. You need them every morning. I need them every morning. And the longer you live and follow Jesus, the more you actually recognize just how holy God is and how sinful you are. And that creates this growing divide of how separated we are from God. If not for a giant view of the cross, say, if God is really that holy and I'm that sinful, then I need a big savior. And the good news is you have one church. His name is Jesus Christ. Run back to the inexpressible gift that is found in the gospel and do it daily. Daily meditate on the gospel. Secondly, respond in praise. I think as I look at verse 15, I'm like, man, I got something to learn from Paul here to just stop what I'm doing and sing. Right? Christians for generations are a singing people. And you might say, well, not me, because I want to be obedient to the Scriptures. And the Lord says that he loves it when I make a joyful noise to the Lord. And that's not happening, Right? If you're like me, it's like joyful noise to the Lord. Okay, I'm just gonna shatter that and say, if God can look at David and say, man does not look at the outward appearance, but at the heart, he can do the same thing with your singing. And so if you want to use that as a cop out and not be a singing Christian, I'll just call it what it is. You're being a disobedient Christian because to be a Christian is to be a singing Christian. We're commanded to do in the Bible. And the reason we're commanded to do it in the Bible, and I'm stealing this from another pastor, Cody Klein. He said we sing about God because he is too good to Simply talk about. I love that, right? As you actually meditate on the gospel, that your only appropriate response is almost to like burst forward in song and to do it at any time of the day, no matter how weird it might be, right? In the car, in the shower, at the dinner table. Try it at work, I don't know, see how it goes, right? But to be a singing people. And lastly, to not just respond in praise, but to respond in practice. Second Corinthians 8 and 9 have been strictly about financial generosity. And sometimes it's easy to try and create the workaround and say, well, what if I'm generous with my time? Or what if I'm generous with my talents or giftings? Paul is talking about money. And to be like, hey, we get to respond in faithfulness to this text and actually respond in practice by giving of our finances, ultimately, to glorify God, that this is not about self, it's not about what's in it for me. It's not even just about meeting a physical need or receiving a thank you from somebody, but rather being satisfied in the reality that giving is an opportunity for us to demonstrate the gospel, that we are recipients of the inexpressible gift. And yes, simply to give God the worship he deserves, to be like God. My giving isn't just to Veritas Church, My giving is to you. Because you deserve to be worshiped. Like I said, the beautiful reality is this echoes all throughout eternity. And one of the beautiful pictures of revelation is that one day we'll have crowns. Why do we have crowns? That's absurd to think about. If you understand that you're in heaven, you're happy with no crown at all, but God is kind enough to give you a crown. And do you know what you're gonna do with your crown? What are you gonna do with your crown? You're gonna lay it at Jesus feet once again, this call to give. This call to lay your crown at Jesus feet. Why? Because he deserves to be worshiped. Your crown isn't about you. Your crown is about Jesus. And today, tomorrow, next week, Lord willing, your money isn't about you. It's about God being glorified. Amen. Let's pray to that end. Father, I just thank you, really, for the last six weeks, the appropriate challenge it has been, the appropriate conviction that's been brought forth. And Lord, your grace, which is new each and every day, thank you for the inexpressible gift that is found in Jesus Christ. That though he was rich, he became poor, he lived perfectly, he suffered in our place. Not just the physical anguish of crucifixion, but the wrath of God that we deserve. And he rose again victorious, so that we who once were enslaved to our sin are now set free to worship you as you deserve to be worshiped. God, I pray that Veritas Church would be marked by generosity, not just for the sake of generosity, but Lord, that our generosity would be in submission to our confession to the gospel of Jesus Christ. That as people look at the individuals that make up this church family, they would not just say, wow, look how generous they are. They would say, look at the God they serve. And that they too would be invited to give you the worship you deserve, because you alone are worth praising. We pray this in Jesus name, Amen.